Sofa: Downtime Organizer Reviews

by Lilbigs2001

I loved Sofa until this most recent update. Previously, the best feature was the ability to manually order and reorder items on your lists, thus ranking the movies and TV shows in the order you’d like to watch them. They cut that feature on the most recent update; an extremely poor decision. Sofa is only mildly useful now, as everything on my lists is in a mostly arbitrary order no matter what setting I choose. Prior to this update, I would easily have given Sofa four, maybe five, stars. Now I can’t imagine giving it more than two. A prime example of how prioritizing sleek design over practical utility can ruin your product.

by Crazyaboutaudio

I just recently started using Sofa and at first it was really cool but today I went to enter a book series and even though this series is popular it was not on the database. So fine, it gives me the option to enter manually but once I entered the title and saved it, it attached this weird picture of some guy from what I assume are stock photos but it won’t allow you to edit the picture. Am I doing something wrong? I don’t want a random picture in there but I’m happy to load my own I just can’t find a place to do that

by The Meatshake

Shawn is quick to respond to support, which is great. But, twice now - across the span of several months - Sofa has completely deleted my lists from two of my three iOS devices. All three are set up with the same iCloud account and same settings yet they are mismatched (one has the list, yet it is suddenly gone from the other two). Shawn is working with me to resolve, which is great. But the stability of Sofa is certainly in question.

by Derajpaarg

I really like this idea. I downloaded it to organize my video games because I’m an achievement hunter. So having lists for games I need to purchase, games I need to complete 100%, and all by console. The reason I’m only giving 3 stars is for a few reasons… #1 - Can’t pick game by console. Example: there are Xbox 360 games and Xbox one games and you can differentiate them. #2 - Ran into several games I wanted to add that didn’t show up on the search. It does let you add a “custom game name” but it doesn’t let you choose the artwork for it, it’s just a blank generic image. Not a huge deal but part of the reason I was drawn to Sofa was the imagery. #3 - Can’t add notes or anything to anything on the lists. #4 - Can’t move items on lists around. Once items are added they stay in the order they were entered. So if you want all games (or anything, really) in a series together and in order, you have to add them all in a row in the order you want. Again, not a bad app. Just not user friendly enough yet for the purposes I’m looking for. I’m going to keep Sofa regardless and hope the dev will make some of these changes.

I do LOVE the fact that there is no data Sofa takes or need. Bravo on that 👏

by MrDominus7

I am not a fan of the new aesthetic changes. The 3 options “The Pile,” “Activity,” and “Themes” now take up half the screen - in black mode you can’t see the outlines, either, so the organization looks off (I didn’t realize “The Pile” button was one long rectangle until I saw the screenshots here). Also I’m not sure “Themes” needs to be front and center all of the time (it’s also one of the few options under Settings, so it feels redundant).

I also dislike that the checkbox option was removed from items on the list in favor of ellipses with options, so it now requires 2 taps rather than 1 to check an item off. The list view also looks like each item takes up more space, so you see less at a glance and need to scroll more.

I still like Sofa but the new aesthetic/layout changes make it feel more clunky and less stream-lined.

— Previous Review —
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sofa is certainly the best for keeping a list of what to watch, listen to, or read.

My only suggestion would be to allow for the option to add a short note to things on your list. I often see things recommended online or by friends and sometimes forget the context of why I added something. So it would be nice if I can add that to items on my list (e.g., recommended by John Doe because it’s about X, Y, and Z”).

by Nornwen

Sofa is really well designed, it doesn't give me a migraine just looking at it like other tv tracking apps... it is just the right amount of visual, not too much. I am glad that it is really simple, but also think it could benefot from a few more features. 1. it would be nice to record a bit more about shows/podcasts/etc. whether it be checking off what episodes/seasons you have watched or just being able to make notes about it, which could also be used for thoughts/review of the media. 2. it would be nice to be able to set notifications for the shows, podcasts, etc. you choose. 3. when you repeat an item they could be connected and share the same notes.

by KTybrand

I am constantly making list like these and then misplacing them! All my papers of lists look very unorganized and I’m always trying to find a way to organize them, but never can find the time! So Sofa was a dream come true for me! Now I have all my list organized on one app! Thank you so much for making this. I never write reviews on apps, but I felt compelled to do so on this one!!! 👏🏼☺️

by Gildas17

As a cinephile and co-host of movie podcast Film Loop, I need a tool to help me organize the films I watch and keep notes on. this app is just Sofa for the job. The UI is simple and clean, clearing away distractions. I can keep lists on my own terms and there’s a great feature to see my activity and when I’ve finished watching something on my list. I’m not sure I can run my podcast as smoothly without this app!

by Ahanaz85

Sofa is beautiful, attractive and best of all… Simple to use. Love how it’s either in the Pile to deal with later, or in a category of your choosing. You can create groups and lists to organize to your heart’s content. Thanks for creating this!

One thing I am missing is the possibility to rate the items you have, may it be books, movies, or games.

by ElsieRM3

I love having the list of books I want to read so handy; sort of right in my pocket at all times! And so easy to list something I read about so I won’t forget. Much better than trying to carry a paper list or scraps of paper.

During this pandemic, I have been able to purchase books on-line, without missing any or, worse, buying twice.

by Gusmoncada1

Every time a piece of media pops into my head from my childhood. I quickly enter it into Sofa. I can come back to it later after the thought has left my mind. Having a library of media with the corresponding meta data and cover art really makes it feel special as opposed to a line of text in the notes app. I am so happy I came across the blog post that mentioned Sofa.

by Saintlier

Truly Sofa I never knew I needed. Sometimes I put media in my backlog onto my daily to-do list just because it doesn’t really fit into any better place, so this is the perfect app to curate every piece of the pie I’ve dipped a finger in lol. It really is a great concept for those days when you know you have a nice chunk of free time, but aren’t sure what to do with it. Plus, having lists across multiple media genres in this one app consolidates many of the backlogs that I’m keeping in different places.

The UI is clean and intuitive, and I love the resource lookup integration, as even obscure titles readily appear when I search for them. Adding custom items is a great feature, too.

I do wish we had the ability to manually reorder items on a list rather than only by A-Z or date added. I look forward to seeing what new media formats get added to Sofa !

by ALC1287

Sofa is really helpful. I’m pleasantly surprised by the number of podcasts and other media you can find. I wish I remember how I found it, but I adore it. It’s made my life much easier!

Two suggestions: 1. It would be helpful to include the ability to write notes for yourself. 2. For tv/movies it would be great to figure out where to find them. I feel like that’s a lot more complicated, but I thought I should suggest. Thank you!

by NIC Burns

This is an updated review. The developer reached out to me regarding my original 3 star review. He has updated a lot of movies and games on Sofa. I can always find all the movies and tv shows I’m looking for. This helps me keep track of movies, tv shows and games I want to play and watch. I use this anytime I see a new movie I want to see and can always find it. The only games that I couldn’t find is Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey.

by JT Music

This is a well-designed and thoughtfully crafted app. You can see the developer spent a lot of time thinking about the customer issues he wanted to solve and he has done a brilliant job. The sync works great and I upgraded to the family plan for my wife and I. Again super easy. The developer added a ton of fun design themes to change the UI and has set up a very flexible data architecture to sort your content as you wish.

by TheAverageDude

Sofa is awesome. It’s something that most developers would never think of. I enjoy be able to go back and look through the content I’ve consumed. The only piece of feedback I would like to leave is that I would love to be able to add multiple movies to my watch list at a time. When going through movies that have sequels it can take a good amount of time to search up the title again to add and would be a nice quality of life improvement. With that said Sofa is great. I recommend it to people often,

by BKaleo

Sofa is incredible. It’s beautiful, functional, and easy. This level of organization is what I’ve been needing for awhile! Now I can make sure to actually follow up on recommendations from friends ☺️ and I won’t have to spend an hour finding something to watch. Please Shawn, make more organizational apps! You rock!

My only suggestions would be to make it possible to add a note to a show or whatever. Like who recommended it to me or what my quick thoughts are on a recommendation. And maybe the ability to have shared folders or lists. It’s perfect as is though! Thanks!

by Gswlsw

Love Sofa which I just found. I have been looking for a very clean way to keep track of recommendations from friends, things I read about or hear about. So easy to add them here! Very appealing and uncomplicated.

Would love to see this extended to allowing custom categories (theater, recipes to make, restaurants, websites, streaming media) even without the ability to pull in info from the internet. Maybe with the possibility of using a photo to replace that section? For the moment, I am creating my own categories/lists (ie Food ideas) and just putting the info into the title as a custom Video Game!

Developer is accessible and open to ideas!

by Hyperiuss

this app is a great method to remember, jot down, or keep track of the material you want when you want it.

For me, I was looking for a solution to construct an App Library for apps that I want to or already have explored, but were taking up space or were inconvenient at that present time on my multiple devices but that I wanted to remember without having to keep searching Sofa Store. this app's ability to browse the iOS store and how easy it was to personalize the experience to match my needs totally impressed me, as did the fact that this is just scratching the surface of what this app has to offer, and all for free.

As I learn more about this application, the premium edition is becoming more enticing.

by AClair3

I rarely ever write reviews (cuz I think it’s too much work 🙈) but I just can’t help myself but to write one for Sofa since it literally is my dream-list-app come true!!! Not exaggerating! I have (well, had...) an Excel spreadsheet for… well… this… and I always dreaded having to have to open the file just to add things to or update the list. I’ve searched for a very, very, very long time for an app like this — simple, intuitive, eye candy, flexible, clean, uncomplicated yet simply complete in its usefulness, highly satisfying to use, etc., — with no luck, and at 2am in the morning as I delay my sleep, I found it!!! Thank you!!! You have made one avid list user, who has a list for everything, very giddy and satisfied for sure! I absolutely love Sofa!😍

by Brizzzad

this app doesn’t try to do any more than you need. Keep lists of movies, shows, and books you want to remember for later. Once you’ve completed one, check it off (it’s saved in a separate list). You could use a ton of other generic list-making apps to do the same, but this app has all the little touches that are tailored to these media.

by Metaquasi

I was going to give Sofa 4 stars because it is missing some functionality that I would really like but it is so close to being perfect. It is easy to use and not loaded with a lot of distracting cruft. If you find yourself having a backlog of recommendations from friends for movies and music, this might be exactly what you are looking for.